The Legend of Angel Falls
by Drowningblonde
Summary: Like all places torn by war and hardship Altea is haunted by the tragedy that unfolded just over a decade ago. Reports of hauntings are just about everywhere and the local ghosts make regular, sometimes terrifying, appearances. Angel Falls is just such a place and woe betides anyone who follows the lights in the forest or sees the angel in the mists. 2013 KAEX Halloween Challenge
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron/Go Lion or any of their characters. They are the property of WEP and Devil's Due Comic and Toei Animation. All other characters are mine. This is written purely for entertainment purposes and I am not monetarily compensated in any way. **

**The Legend of Angel Falls**

"_It shines like the crown of an angel and fades as the mist comes and goes."_

_Lyric from the song: Brown Mountain Lights_

_-Tommy Faile-_

_**1**_

The _jalla_ crashed through the leaves covering the wide forest trail in a race for its life. Lance McClain, Red Lion pilot of the Voltron Force, rode his horse in hot pursuit and took aim with his rifle. Keith Kogane, his commander, BlacK Lion pilot and best friend, was close behind; flanking him in an effort to herd the marsupial vicariant of a Terran deer toward a fallen tree blocking the path so that it wouldn't escape back into the cover of the wood. Just as Lance had the creature in his sights it made a spectacular leap over the dead fall and into a dense thicket of Arusian laurel bushes. Lance's horse pulled up short, unable to follow. Through sights of his crosshairs Lance watched the _jalla _bounding high over the tangle of branches escape and he cursed. He could have taken the shot and made his kill, but wading through the wicked, twisty tree limbs to collect his prize would have been impossible. Only the _jalla_, with their powerful springing hind limbs could navigate through the 'Laurel-hell.' Everything else on Altea needed to go around or risk getting fatally ensnared in the bushes', clingy vine-like limbs.

"Goddamn it! Quinoa and mung beans again! I was hoping for some meat for dinner." He exclaimed, clicking the safety back on and slinging the weapon across his back in a practiced movement.

"We still have some light. Maybe we can get some _fennik_ or rabbits?" Keith suggested gesturing to the wood and heading that way.

Lance grunted in agreement, and turned his horse around and followed Keith down the game trail into the shade of the forest.

Before long the trail widened and their horse's hooves clip clopped on a paved road, cracked and half hidden with fallen leaves, weeds and branches. They exchanged a glance and continued to follow the path. Keith pulled his horse up at the edge of a clearing and Lance rode up beside him.

"What the hell, dude?" Lance asked frowning as he took note of the burned out shells of buildings covered in creeper weeds. "Did you know this place was here?"

Keith shook his head. "Uh-huh," he peered curiously down the rubble strewn two lane street that extended in front of them and formed a four way intersection before pulling out his comm and checked the GPS. "Huh? That's funny; it's called Orlena."

"Like Allura's aunt?" Lance asked wryly.

"Yeah, weird" Keith said as he urged his horse forward into the remains of the village.

"Must have been an airstrike," Lance observed as he followed. Keith merely nodded his expression somber as he took note of the destruction.

Once they reached what must have been the village green they dismounted, letting their horses graze on the overgrown lawn as they looked around. Keith loosed his sidearm in its holster and Lance unslung his rifle, ready for anyone or thing that might come charging out of the shadows. Gangs and outlaws were still a common threat, and most resented the restoration of peace and order that followed the Space Explorer's arrival on Altea.

The village was deserted, however. The charred and blacked remains of chimneys, half crumbled walls of brick and concrete covered in lichen were all that remained of houses. The young trees breaking through moss and weed-covered foundation slabs gave a bleak testimony of the total destruction rendered by the Drule on this once bustling town.

A flash of light in the street caught Keith's eye and he walked over to investigate. Through the grassy re-growth he saw it more clearly, a shiny gold ring near a cluster of small white stones. As he crouched down and reached his hand out to pick it up he suddenly froze. The ring was still wrapped around the skeletal finger of its owner. His eye traveled further, seeing the straight metacarpal bones of the hand and then the knobby carpal bones of the wrist he had mistook for rocks. A radius was next, its slender, elegant shape and size identifying it as the arm bone of woman. Then the graceful arcs of the ribs, some of which had been melted into the pavestone crater beneath them. The remains of the lower body seemed to be missing. _Whoever this person was, they had taken a direct hit from a lazon canon… _Keith realized with a sinking feeling. He looked around the ground to see if there was a skull, he saw it a few feet off wrapped in a tangle of vines, the empty eye sockets staring at him expectantly. He looked away, back down at the ground and noticed a second skull among the oddly orderly rib bones and vertebra. This one was small as a teacup and as delicate as an eggshell. Next to it was part of a jawbone with tiny teeth like pearls in a setting . A young child's skull and probably the rest of its bones lay underneath those of what was undoubtedly its mother. _She had been running for cover, carrying her baby, when they gunned her down._ Keith felt the bile rise in his throat.

"Hey! You find something over there?" Lance called as he exited from of what might have been a grocery store, the doorway was thing only part of the structure still standing. Keith nodded as Lance walked over to join him.

"What'd you find?" Lance asked as he peered over Keith's shoulder. "Oh." He said quickly as he saw the bones.

"She was married." Keith said pointing at the ring. A sickening nostalgia washed over him as he thought of Beverly dying alone and afraid without him. He closed his eyes and pushed the memory aside. _That was then. This is now. _

Just then the light changed as a cloud had passed in front of the sun and chill wind ruffled the hair on both their necks. Lance looked around warily.

"Oh shit." He said as he suddenly saw them all.

Keith's head snapped up and he jumped to his feet drawing his side arm, then his mouth dropped open in shock.

There were bones everywhere. Bleached white by the sun they had blended into the shattered concrete and limestone. The forest's efforts to reclaim the town had done the rest of the camouflage.

"This was a fuckin' massacre." Lance said softly. "Do you think anyone's been here since it happened?"

"I don't know." Keith answered. He looked down at the gold ring. If people had been here- looters and their like- then either they had missed this piece or this place and its people had lay here for twelve years unshriven, unidentified, and unmourned. He was saddened but not surprised. There were still hundreds, maybe thousands of small settlements that had been destroyed just like this one had been and at least a million people still unaccounted for.

He looked around at the chimneys rising up, before they had looked like fingers before, now they reminded him of giant grave markers. Suddenly he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and felt the crawling feeling of eyes on his back. He turned around and saw only the thick overgrowth of a flowering rhodedendrium shrub and the dark forest behind it. He stared harder looking for some movement or some change in the leaf pattern that would show the outline of a predator, or a man, but saw nothing—_Wait! There! Glowing faintly amid the trees about the height of a man a glimmer of lights_ _shining like cat eyes in the dark-!_ He had the sudden sense of danger as a feeling of projected malevolence washed over him.

Hearing one of the horses whinny an alarm they exchanged a look.

"Let's get out of here. This is sacred ground." Lance said and rubbed the back of his neck. Keith could tell buy the tightness in his friend's jaw that he had felt whatever _that_ was too.

They headed back to horses, their steps hurried when suddenly something charged out of under brush. Both Lance and Keith turned at once and had only the briefest of moments to glimpse its terrible red eyes and slavering jaws before their weapons were in their hands firing and the monster lay twitching in its death throes in the dirt.

Lance whooped in delight. "Now that's what I call bringin' home the bacon!"

"Outstanding! Meat's back on the menu!" Keith exclaimed and the two men walked toward the wild boar they had just shot.

It was a smallish beast, about eighty pounds, mostly white, with small black patches over one eye and dappled across its back and bristly tail. Its ivory tusks were small and white, indicating that it was a young pig and its meat was likely to be tender and not too gamey.

Lance crouched down, gingerly stepping around the pool of blood that was spreading underneath the animal. He rolled it onto its back and drew his knife and looked for a good place to open its belly and field dress their kill.

Just then both horses nickered and snorted in alarm and Keith's mare pawed the ground nervously.

Keith glanced over at the horses and hurried over to them, taking hold their reins as his mare stared wall-eyed, ears pricked forward at something in the town. The wind rustled the overgrowth and he felt a chill run through him, stronger than before. Lance's gelding backed up a step and tossed his head fearfully. There was danger here, for sure. He murmured soothingly to the horses and then turned around. His eyes sought out the hedgerows and the empty black doorways scanning for any sign of something amiss.

"Hey, dude! Get me some rope from my saddle bag." Lance called. "I'm just gonna tie him up so we can get outta here."

Keith nodded and whoa-ed Lance's horse as he dug into the bag and found the rope. He tried to walk forward with the horses, but the usually obedient animals refused to move closer. He clucked insistently and pulled on the reins and Lance's gelding sunk down on his haunches and threatened to rear. His own mare also balked and curvetted.

"Just toss it!" Lance called. Keith saw him glance around nervously.

Keith threw the rope and Lance secured the boar 'hog-tying' it with the speed that belied his Nebraska rodeo-cowboy roots. He slung the animal's limp form over his shoulder and used his boot to scuff some sand and rock over the blood on the ground in an effort to cover it. Then he hurried to Keith and the horses.

"Somethin's not right here, bro." Lance said as he secured the pig behind his saddle. "Not right at all." His horse squealed and reared a little, nearly dumping the carcass on the ground. Lanced cursed and finished tying off the knot as Keith settled the animal.

"You ready?" Keith asked as Lance took his horse's reins from him.

"Hell yeah. Let's go!" Lance said glancing around once more as he swung up in the saddle. Keith mounted up beside him. His mare trotted off without any urging. As they rode away Keith spared a glance behind him and then he saw them! Just for a split second! But for sure this time and as clear as day! He saw them! Shiny refractive eyes glowing, burning bright in a black window; boring into his own.

Keith turned and pressed his heels into his horse and she sprung into a gallop, as did Lance's; both equines as eager to put this unsettled place behind them as their riders.


	2. Chapter 2

JustLucky05: Thank you! I'm glad you like it! I hope that you continue to enjoy this story!

Feli3 : Thanks! I'm happy to have you along! I'm exploring some new genre/ground (for me) Romance and Horror.

AnimeBookchic: Aww! Thank you! I plan on writing this for my Nano challenge, so hopefully it will be complete by mid month! And never fear! It might get scary in places, but think of this fic as a ghost story interrupted by a K/A romance! Or vice versa…

Cubbie and Chris: I only have one horse right now and he's more than enough to love on! I was quite a 'tomboy' when I was growing up in Connecticut and we lived right next to a riding stable where I took lessons and worked. The property had over 500 acres(?) of riding and hiking trails through old growth forest. It had several places where actual historic remains of settlements built before the American Revolution still stood/stand. I had a wonderful time riding/exploring those woods and coming home flithy-dirty with a few real ghost stories of my own! (Hint: that's where the chimineys, empty windows and glowing eyes came from! EEP!)

Give Miss3yo a hug and a kiss for me!

Bknbu: Strange things are indeed going to happen! Bwa! Ha! Ha! John Saul and Stephen King have had some pretty strong influences on my love of horror. So, yeah…haunted is a good way to describe this story.

KathDMD: Wowsers Lady! Thank you! The 'Beverly connection' made me think of you when I wrote it. And I'm glad that it, along with the scene in its entirety, had the impact that I intended. I'm feeling pretty validated right now :))

EbonDrake: YAY! Thanks for your input on my first draft. As always you have great suggestions and inspire me with the confidence to post. It's funny, I remember watching DOTU in 1984 and that the episode of the "Love Bridge" was one of my favorites just because it had 'nameless background' characters and some additional history of Arus in it.

_A/N: Thank you so much all of you who are reading and who have encouraged me to continue this story. In case anyone is wondering, this story takes place within my EU, after Rites of Passage but before Razor's Edge. For those of you who haven't read either of those stories: shortly after the Voltron Force has landed on Altea, rediscovered Voltron and decided to stay and defend the planet._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron/Go Lion or any of their characters. They are the property of WEP and Devil's Due Comic and Toei Animation. All other characters are mine. This is written purely for entertainment purposes and I am not monetarily compensated in any way. **

**The Legend of Angel Falls**

"_Legend's faded storyline_

_Tried to warn us all_

_Oh, they called her Lorelei_

_Careful or you'll fall!"_

Lorelei

-Blackmore's Night

* * *

_The splash drew him to the rocky rim of the waterfall; so faint he almost didn't hear it over the dull roar of the crashing water. His mission was to search and find where the Alteans that had escaped the bombardment were hiding in the caves that riddled the landscape, so he came to investigate to source of the sound. And there, on a rock sunning herself, surrounded by mist like a water nixie, he saw her. She was still dripping from her swim with her long golden hair wet and plastered to her shoulders and back. _

_Carefully—oh so carefully—he crouched down and crept closer to see her better. She was fair and delicate, almost translucent; like something out of a legend and for a moment he was not even certain she was real. The light on Altea was brighter and the shadows were deeper than on Korrinoth and they had a way of playing tricks with a person's eyes. He had heard the stories from other ground units come back from the Red Desert. Tales of shimmering mirages that made mountains a hundred miles off in the distance look as if they were a short march ahead. Of seas with crashing waves that appeared in the sands then disappeared. And in his own experience the shifting sunlight through the forest canopy distorted shapes and pattern in ways that made trees and rocks seem like things that they weren't. Perhaps this is what this was—a trick of the morning light on the mists rising from the waterfall below. _

_He shifted his weight slightly and that was all it took to snap small branch underfoot. The sound seemed to echo off the steep limestone of the riverbank and his gossamer farie gasped, whirled around and looked up at him. Her bright blue eyes, wide and fearful, met his for a moment. _

_He reached out his hand and called out, "Stop!" But it was a fool's request; she dove off her rock and disappeared under the frothing water under the cascade. He half-slid down the embankment and looked for some sign of her in the deep crystal pool. It was so clear he could see the sunlight light dance and shimmer on the flecks of mica and pyrite on the sandy bottom. Nothing. It was like she had just vanished beneath the surface. He peered around foolishly for some indication of her hiding in the underbrush and startled to see an amorphous shape forming amid the foliage and rocks in the swirling mist. He stood stock still and stared wide eyed as tendrils extended from it like arms reaching out to him. It quickly dissipated. He laughed at himself and shook his head. Perhaps he had imagined her after all. The effects of stress and combat on his weary mind, that's all. _

_He turned to climb back up but stopped short as he noticed wet splotches on the rock where he had seen her; two clearly in the shape of handprints. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and looked back at the waterfall. _

_Just then his comm chimed, indicating he needed to send a sit rep of his patrol back to his commander. He resumed his climb and decided he would come back tomorrow to try to catch a glimpse of the water nymph._

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Keith and Lance rode briskly in silence until they had put some distance between themselves and the ruined town.

"That place was…was strange, huh?" Keith asked when they had turned off the forest trail and traveled along a well worn farm to market dirt road. The late afternoon sun hung mid-low in the sky and on one side was a new fence line and a plowed over field ready for planting.

"Yeah. Very." Lance replied stroking his gelding's neck distractedly after they had slowed their horses to a walk.

"Do you think it was deserted? Because I swore we were being watched." Keith admitted.

"We were being watched."

Keith stared at his friend in surprise, "You saw it too?!"

Lance shook his head. "Nuh-uh. I saw _them._"

"Them? You're messing with me, right?"

Lance glanced at him and shook his head, "Nah- at first I thought it was just the heebie-jeebies; but once the blood spilled on the ground—I saw them-like shadows. The spirits of that place are angry and they don't like visitors."

A chill raced down Keith's spine, he had learned in combat to trust Lance's almost supernatural instincts and reliance on the random assortment of objects, animals and occurrences that he called 'signs.' He had asked himself more than once if the Red Lion pilot's diluted Native American ancestry had something to do with it. Keith felt he had no place to disparage his friend's beliefs; Keith's own Asian heritage had more than its fair share of superstition and reverence for the spirit world. And so far Lance hadn't been wrong. "I saw eyes in a window, watching us leave." Keith reluctantly admitted.

Lance looked at him and nodded then turned his horse east, taking them along a longer more circuitous route to the castle. Keith frowned at Lance's back but went along without comment. They walked their horses along the muddy banks of swift running stream looking for shallow place to ford. Once across Lance said, "Ok, the water should confuse it if we were followed."

Keith laughed out loud, "Dude, you're worse than my grandmother!"

"Hey, you never know!" Lance retorted with a lopsided grin; shrugging good naturedly as the Castle of Lion's scaffold encased towers came into view on the hilltop.

They trotted into the stable yard and dismounted. A groom came for their horses as Lance untied his precious cargo from his saddle.

"Wow, Mr. McClain! Hunting was good today!" the young man exclaimed, "First Her Highness' kill and now you and the Commander bring back a boar!"

"Her Highness went hunting?" Keith asked puzzled. Princess Allura was an enigma to him. The first time he had seen her on top of the staircase he had thought she was an angel. Ethereally beautiful she seemed to cast her own light in the dark ruins. She was so delicate, kindhearted and ladylike; she was like a princess from a fairytale. It was hard to imagine her hunting and killing something.

"Oh, yes! She's a fantastic shot with her bow! She brought down five great plover—a plunder if you please—as they flew overhead!" The groom grinned.

Keith and Lance exchanged a look. "Well, then, I'm glad we got this boar and not a couple of _fenniks _and rabbits." Keith said feeling both surprised and chagrined. Five birds on the wing? With only a bow? Allura was…was definitely not the delicate flower he had presumed her to be.

"Oh, yes, Sir!" the groom agreed. "That would have been embarrassing indeed." He bobbed his head quickly in respect and lead the horses away, leaving Keith imagining Allura in an open field, her full pastel skirts and long golden hair flowing out behind her with a bow drawn aiming at the sky.

"Hey, can you give me a hand?" Lance asked, interrupting his musings.

"Oh, yeah, sure." Keith said snapping back to reality.

They crossed the courtyard and to back entrance of the royal kitchen.

"The mighty hunters have returned!" Lance announced as they hovered in the doorway, the boar's body limp and leaking between them. Both men noticed three plump plover hanging on hooks by their necks waiting to be blanched in a large boiling pot before they were plucked.

Across the room, standing behind a center island and hunched over a butcher's block, Dame Geneva, governess to Princess Allura -or "Nanny" as she was commonly called- looked up sharply from her task. Her hands were covered in plucked plover feathers, "You have something with you, or do you just need to be fed?" She asked in her perpetually irritated tone and thick German accent.

"Come and see for yourself!" Keith said.

Nanny wiped her hands on her apron and bustled over to them. She stopped short; exclaiming as she saw the boar. "Oh! You wonderful boys! -What?! No! Stay out!" She ordered as they attempted to haul up the carcass and started to bring it inside. "Get out! Get out! You'll track blood and dirt into my clean kitchen." She gestured impatiently to two kitchen staffers to take the pig. They too tried to take the still bleeding animal inside, "_Nein!_ Get a plastic sheet to wrap it! Quick! Quick!" She glared at their retreating backs and mumbled something undoubtedly unflattering in her native tongue.

"Sorry we didn't dress it for you-ah- we were in a rough spot." Lance apologized.

Nanny clucked nonchalantly, "Ach, never mind; I'm glad you didn't. I'll have the butcher make sausages with the _kuttelins_. And smoke some ham and bacon for Christmas!" Her broad smile lit up her face making her appear downright…pleasant. "You! Get them something to drink!" She suddenly barked at a buxom red-headed girl who had just set down a rack full of glasses at the dishwasher. Nanny's expression returned immediately to the purse lipped scowl she usually wore, "Can't you see they're thirsty?" The girl bobbed a curtsy and scurried to do as she was bid.

The kitchen assistants returned with the plastic and Lance and Keith lifted the boar and placed it squared on the sheet. "Hurry! Get it to the back quick! I don't want the meat to get a taint! Go! Go!" She admonished them; flapping her hands and chasing behind them around the corner as if they were not already wrapping and carrying the heavy beast as fast as they could.

"Dude, she makes me think of boot camp all over again." Lance quipped as soon as Nanny was out of earshot.

Keith smirked, "_You_ went to boot camp?"

"Yeah, I went to boot camp!"

"Sorry, I didn't know they had a boot camp for the Air Farce," Keith shrugged.

"Fuck you, Jarhead. By the way, did you see the jugs on that girl?" The words had no sooner left Lance's mouth than the red-headed serving girl re-appeared in the doorway with two glasses of sweet iced tea on a tray. Her hazel eyes went wide as she looked from the Red Lion pilot to his commander and back again.

"Thanks." Keith said with smile as he took the offered glass.

"Um, yeah—thanks." Lance fidgeted uncomfortably under the servant's incredulous stare. The girl bobbed a stiff curtsy to Keith and turned quickly to go. She darted a last frown behind her at Lance as she went back into the kitchen to her duties.

"Smooth, dude. Real smooth." Keith taunted taking a sip of his tea.

"Great, now she's gonna think I'm an asshole." Lance observed.

"Smart girl."

* * *

"Delicious meal! Thank you, Your Highness for providing the meat for our table! To her Highness!" Coran raised his glass in salute to Allura at her place at head of the table.

"Hear! Hear!" The five members of the Voltron Force at the table clinked glasses, Hunk loudest of all, still holding on to his crispy plover wing in his other hand.

"Thank you, Coran and esteemed gentlemen. You honor me. But really the credit belongs to Nanny, after all she cooked it." Allura replied graciously.

"Ach, it's nothing." Nanny said dismissively as she portioned leftovers at the sideboard; her smile contradicting her bland tone.

"Keith? Nanny tells me that you and Lance shot a wild boar?" The princess asked, happy to find an opportunity engage the handsome, but reticent commander of the Voltron Force in conversation.

Keith paused a moment to swallow a mouthful of quinoa. "We did." He said quickly and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Over in this ruined town—Orlena."

"Yeah. It was a real ghost town." Lance quipped earning a frown from Keith.

"Oh?" Princess Allura asked leaning forward. The dinner conversation seemed about to get interesting.

"It, um—was—"Keith paused a moment looking for what to say so both he and Lance didn't sound ridiculous. "I guess we were the first people to come across it since the Drule destroyed it." Keith began. "There were still people, well, their remains, in the streets."

"Oh." Allura replied her expression fading as she looked back down at her plate and pushed some food around with her fork. Keith saw her reaction and wanted to kick himself. And Lance.

The table fell into an uncomfortable silence and only the sounds of silverware scraping on the porcelain could be heard.

Finally Sven spoke up. "Maybe, someone should send in some archeologists? Forensics or something? Identify the remains if we can—bury them anyway." He suggested.

"Maybe get started rebuilding? " Pidge suggested.

"No." Lance said abruptly and every head turned to look at him. "It's sacred ground. It doesn't need a bunch of eggheads digging around."

"But the people deserve to be buried! Mourned by their families." Sven admonished.

Nanny came away from the sideboard and began clearing empty plates; her quick movements belied her agitation. "_Nein_. Let them lie there in peace."

"But what about their families?" Hunk asked as Nanny came to take his plate. He tried to grab the leg bone of the plover off of it but Nanny smacked his hand away as she took hold of the plate. "Hey! I was eating that!" he protested.

Nanny scowled at him, "You've had enough! I need this for soup tomorrow!" She said handing off the plates to a servant and following her back into the kitchen.

"I'm afraid all the families are most likely together already, Hunk." Coran said. "You see, boys, Altea isn't like Terrra. We're still a young settlement- only four generations old. Some places not even that much. Orlena was established in honor of the birth of Allura's aunt Orla. People were offered land ownership and houses to move there from other parts of Leon and New Rhineland. Entire extended families, about two thousand people, left their lease-holds and relocated to take advantage of the deal." He explained.

"So…that's it, then? Whole families, moms, dads, grandparents, kids…everybody? Generations just wiped out?" Hunk asked.

Princess Allura looked up, her face pale, "Yes," she said sadly. "What people survived Zarkon's forces died during the Long Winter."

"Enough of this talk!" Nanny scolded overhearing the Princess' somber tone as she reentered the dining room wearing large floral oven mitts and carrying a casserole dish. She set it down on the sideboard and removed the glass lid with a flourish. The amazing aroma of apple and cinnamon wafted up from the warm dessert successfully changing the conversation topic.

"Is that strudel?!" Hunk and Pidge asked together.

"_Nein_, cobbler. We only got rice flour in this shipment. Can't make a pastry from it without yeast and baking soda. But we got cinnamon and vanilla, finally. And coffee too!" Nanny replied setting her mitts on the sideboard. She picked up a serving spoon then set it back down with a frustrated clank. She muttered something in German and barged out though the swinging doors back to the kitchen.

Hunk picked up his fork and eyed the cobbler. "I say we just grab it and dig in! Who needs plates?!"

"No way, dude! I'd rather visit that ghost town than to face the wrath of Nanny!" Pidge joked and Allura giggled.

"Hush about that place, young man! Or I _will_ give you something to be scared about!" Nanny snapped at Pidge as she burst back through the door with a stainless steel mixing bowl and two servants following with stack of dessert plates, a sliver coffee service and cups and saucers on a tray. "You stay away from there! All of you!" She ordered the Voltron Force as she portioned out servings of cobbler and topped them with fresh whipped cream. She handed them off to one of the servants and instructed her to begin serving with the princess. Nanny let out an exasperated breath as the girl forgot to curtsy; someday this new staff would be trained for Royal service. Someday.

The table fell silent as everyone tucked into the delicious dessert.

"Why? Is it haunted? Did you guys see a ghost?" Pidge asked after a moment, unable to stop himself.

Nanny glared at him and then addressed Coran, " Someone needs to send the priest over there and consecrate the ground. Then put a fence around it." She said as she eye-balled the other servant tasked with setting down the cups and saucers. "An iron fence!"

"Word." Lance nodded in agreement, and in a moment of spectacular rarity Nanny nodded her approval at the Red Lion pilot.

"Wow. Superstitious, anyone?" Sven, his Nordic pragmatism made him a natural skeptic, said between bites, "Who are you trying to keep out?"

"No, keep in." Nanny explained. "And it's not superstitious. People really disappear in the forest around there."

"So it is haunted!" Pidge exclaimed.

"Yes." Nanny said and disappeared through the swinging doors once more.

Sven snorted and Coran stifled a laugh behind his napkin, but Lance and Keith stayed quiet.

"So did you guys see a ghost or what?" Hunk asked.

Keith stared at his cobbler for a moment, remembering the glowing eyes. They could have been cat 's eyes. Absolutely. A cat's eyes. That's what they were. There were plenty of feral cats on Altea. "No, but it was creepy as hell—Sorry, Princess." He apologized for his rough language.

"It's fine. You know there _are_ a lot of stories about that area," Allura supplied.

"Really?" Pidge asked his eyes wide with interest. "What kind of stories?"

"Mmm—yes. Stories about strange lights floating through the trees." Coran answered stroking his mustache thoughtfully. He cast a conspiratorial glance at Allura. She flashed him a slight smile and a quick wink signaling she was in on his game.

Sven caught the exchange, smirked and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.

"People have been reporting lights along Bowman Ridge for years. Rumored to be the ghost of a hunter. He became lost in the laurels still trying to find his way home. They say that anyone who sees his search light and follows it is never seen again!"

"Really?" Both Hunk and Pidge asked together.

"Yes, really." Coran confirmed.

Sven burst out laughing. "It's swamp gas. The fools are never seen again because they get caught in quicksand or get lost chasing St. Elmo's fire."

"Perhaps." Coran agreed, then looked at each member of the Voltron Force and paused dramatically, "Or perhaps not."

"And then there's the 'Legend of Angel Falls'" Allura said. She glanced around the table noticing that she had everyone's attention. "They say that the reflecting pool is haunted by a vengeful ghost. The spirit of a spurned woman. The story goes that she was from a poor family and her lover would meet her in secret there. But eventually he tired of her and left her for another, from a better family. Alone and in despair, she threw herself off the top of the falls onto the rocks below—"

"Your Highness! What kind of talk is this? You're going to give yourself nightmares!" Nanny admonished as she charged through the swinging doors once more; in her hands she had a glass of milk. She picked up Allura's coffee cup and swapped it out with the milk.

"Oh, Nanny! Don't be silly. It's just stories." Allura said.

"There's a lorelei in that water!" Nanny said adamantly.

"Cool! Maybe we can all go there and see if we can see it and get a holo to post online?!" Pidge suggested.

"Ja, bring a fishin' pole, maybe you can catch her." Sven retorted and the table erupted into laughter.

"Laugh if you want, but every year two or three people drown in that river! Just three weeks ago a man _was_ fishing; he said something grabbed him and held him under by his waist! So tight it tore the pants right off him!" Nanny declared.

"Oh, Geneva! Nothing grabbed him! He got drunk and slipped on a rock. The constable found his trousers caught by his belt loop on branch in the water." Coran chortled.

Allura giggled, the guys laughed and Nanny 'harrumphed' and deliberately skipped Coran as she went around the table pouring the much anticipated coffee.

Coran looked down at his empty cup and frowned. "But it is true that people get lost in that area quite frequently. Sometimes for good. The GPS is spotty in places and the laurels quite overgrown and thick." He explained in an attempt to placate Nanny. "And the river does run deceptively deep and fast where it joins up with the aquifer at the base of the falls. Especially during seasonal floods." He relaxed as Nanny, mollified, came back around to him and filled his cup.

* * *

After dinner Allura took advantage of the short time that Nanny would be busy directing the kitchen staff on prepping for the next day's menu. She stepped onto the lift and pressed the symbol on the holoscreen that would take her to the observation deck. It was still under construction but it was where she knew Keith would most likely be. As the lift surged upwards she crossed her fingers, hoping she could get just a few minutes to speak with him alone. She felt the machine drift to a stop and a small chime sounded as the doors opened.

She took a deep nervous breath as she stepped out and looked around. No one. Her heart sank as she realized that he was not there. She walked to the large floor to ceiling windows and looked out, around the scaffolding into the night. Past the treeline she could see the glow of several nearby towns. In an hour or so their lights would blink off as curfew fell and they complied with energy rationing. But at least they had a functioning power plant now. Things had changed so quickly since the Alliance had sent the five pilots and they had found the Lions. _What a difference hope makes._

She remembered how different the skies of Altea had been when she was a little girl. Back then only the brightest stars could be seen over the castle's exterior illumination. Each night she would pick the first one she could see when night fell and make a wish on it. Now, with almost no manmade light, the stars filled the sky so thickly in places they looked like clouds of glitter. Later tonight two of Altea's three moons would rise and illuminate the countryside in a pale violet-blue light.

She gasped; startled at the sound of footsteps.

"Princess, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt." Keith said.

"Oh, no. You weren't—aren't. Not at all." Allura stammered. "I was just—taking advantage of a 'Nanny-free' moment."

Keith laughed, "Yeah, I can see why you might want to do that."

"Yeah." She smiled shyly.

Keith stared at his feet before he looked back up at Allura. "Hey, um, I just wanted to uh, say that I was, um—" he trailed of distractedly.

"Yes?"

"—Um, really impressed that you shot that plover. I mean those plovers. Five? Six of them?" Keith stammered.

"Five. It was five. And it wasn't that hard. I mean they're big and—and slow. And they travel in flocks. It's actually harder to _not_ hit one." Allura demurred. "But, thanks…thank you."

"Yeah, but with a bow. I mean that's pretty difficult."

Allura blushed prettily. "Thank you. My mother taught me to hunt with bow."

"You're welcome…she did a great job. Well, hey, I don't want to interrupt your personal time, so…" Keith said trailing off and taking a few hesitant steps backwards.

"Oh, really it's ok." Allura said quickly, trying the gather her nerve. "Keith, wait, Um, I was wondering—all legends aside—Angel Falls is really a beautiful place. I was thinking about going hunting, and maybe if you're planning on going hunting again…I was thinking that maybe we could go together and I could show it to you?"

Keith stared at her for a moment without speaking, then finally he found his voice, "Uh-" he began then broke off and cleared his throat, "I-, yeah—Yeah! That sounds gre-" His last words were suddenly drowned out by the blaring sound of klaxons signaling impending a Drule attack and both of them startled at the sound. Keith shook his head in frustration, " I gotta go—Sorry!" He backed away and turned to go.

"Be careful!" Allura called out. She pressed her lips together and blinked back tears as she watched him run down the corridor to his battle station and headlong into danger for her planet; for her people_._ Maybe one day even for her. _Come back to me. Please. _


End file.
